A man who was detained in Tulare County in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found in a Santa Ana motel room was behind bars Wednesday on suspicion of murder.

Milton Louis Mayfield, 55, of Anaheim, is suspected in the death of 55-year-old Deborah Ann Simon, whose body was found shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday at a motel in the 1400 block of East First Street.

According to Santa Ana police, Mayfield was spotted by California Highway Patrol officers at 4:50 a.m. Tuesday with a disabled vehicle alongside a freeway in Tulare County. When officers spoke to him, Mayfield “made spontaneous statements indicating he may have killed a woman in a motel room in the area of First Street and Grand Avenue in the city of Santa Ana.”

CHP officers detained Mayfield and contacted Santa Ana police, who began searching various motels in the area, eventually discovering Simon at the Sunshine Village Motel. She was pronounced dead by paramedics at 5:21 a.m, police said.

Santa Ana detectives traveled to Visalia and interviewed Mayfield, and he was brought back to Santa Ana and booked into the city jail on suspicion of murder. Police said the disabled vehicle found with him in Tulare County belonged to Simon.

The woman’s cause of death has not yet been released. There was also no immediate word on a motive for the killing.

Man Arrested for Allegedly Killing Woman Found in Santa Ana Motel Room was last modified: October 17th, 2018 by Contributing Editor

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